The Balai, Raj Balai,Balahi,Bunkar, or Sutarkar are found in the states of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

and

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

in India.

Balai as weavers

Balai is a transliteration of the Hindi word . The word means weaving. Weaving is the traditional occupation of Balais. According to

Hindu texts Hindu texts or Hindu scriptures are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. Some of the major Hindus, Hindu texts include the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Itihasa. ...

, all weavers in

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

are the descendants of Rishi Mrikanda. Mrikanda is known as the father of modern weaving. Bunkar(weaver) is a suitable name for the caste of balai as it represent the exact character and both are referred to be same, they belong to the

vaishya Vaishya (Sanskrit: वैश्य, ''vaiśya'') is one of the four varnas of the Vedic Hindu social order in India. Vaishyas are classed third in the order of Varna hierarchy. The occupation of Vaishyas consists mainly of agriculture, takin ...

caste/ varna,they work in weaving or selling.

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...

Jain Shravak Sangha preached to the Balai community in 1964, near

Ratlam Ratlam is a city in the northwestern part of the Malwa region in Madhya Pradesh state of India. The city of Ratlam lies above sea level. It is the administrative headquarters of Ratlam district, which was created in 1947 after the independe ...

, in the village Guradia. Jain Shravak Sangha gave Dharampal Jain Samaj to the Balai community, in the name of Dharmanatha. About 1.25

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...

people of the Malviya and Gujarati Balai communities are Dharampal Jains.

Raj Balai

Historically, the Raj Balais were royal messengers. They used to convey messages from one kingdom to another kingdom in ancient times. Raj means royal, therefore the Balais who was engaged in such royal services called Raj Balais.

Beliefs

Balai are

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

by religion. They are devotees of Maa Durga, Maa Chamunda and Maa Kalaratri. They also pay tribute to Baba Ramdeo Ji and consider Kalarati as their kuldevi. Balais do not marry in their families or within their

gotra In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotr ...

. Balais are divided into a number of gotras such as Chouhan, Rathore, Parihar, Parmar, Solanki, Brejwal, Bunker Marichi, Atri, August, Bhardwaj, Matang, Dhaneshwar, Mahachand, Jogchand, Jogpal, Meghpal, Garva and Jaipal. They live in multi-caste villages in their own areas and bury their dead. Balais are traditionally non-vegetarian as they believe in ''bali'' (

animal sacrifice Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spread of Chris ...

). Animal sacrifice is the part of worshiping Maa Durga and Kalaratri.

History

The Balai or Balahi caste is a functional caste of weavers and village chowkidars/kotwals. Historically they were the part of Koli/Kori community, which was engaged in works like fishing and weaving, and as further when a group separately moved towards into weaving work alone, they were given the weaving related names of Balai or Bunkar, because of the events balai caste is count as an offshoot of koli/kori community. In Rajasthan and Gujarat states of India they are specifically associated with Meghwal community due to their various cultural similarities like handicrafts and embroidery work.

Population

According to the 2011 census of India, there are 2,668,000 Balais in India.

Language

Balais speak languages including Nimadi, Dhundari, Marwadi, Punjabi, Kashmiri and Gujarati.

Other

Sometimes, Balai is referred to as Julaha and Meghwal. Originally, most Balais associated themselves with the Meghwal community. Frequently ask question and myths - * Is balai or balahi caste similar to Chamar(jatav) caste ? , No they both are completely distinct caste of different work and culture, they are not same. * Is balai and meghwal same ? ,yes in some cases.

References

Weaving communities of South Asia Social groups of Chhattisgarh Social groups of Rajasthan Indian castes by profession Bania communities {{India-ethno-stub